Congress maintaining 30% vote share in Orissa

While the Congress(I) got 28.18 per cent of votes,Utkal Congress polled 23.99 per cent of the ballots. The Jana Congress share was 5.16 per cent.

Congress,led by J B Patnaik,received the highest ever – 51.08 per cent – votes in the 1985 Assembly polls winning 117 of the 1147 seats to form the government for the second successive term.

The party candidates had received 47.78 per cent (the second highest) vote share (47.78 Per cent) in the previous 1980 Assembly poll which led to Patnaik’s installation as chief minister for the first time.

Interestingly,the Congress managed to secure 29.78 per cent votes in 1990,but won only ten out of the 147 seats with the Biju Patnaik-led Janata Dal sweeping the elections winning 123 seats.

However,though it cornered the highest percentage of votes on several occasions including in the 2000 and 2004 Assembly polls,the same did not translate into the required number of seats for forming the government.

The Congress vote share in 2000 was 33.78 per cent (26 seats) which marginally increased to 34.8 in 2004 with the number of seats won rising to 38.

The non-Congress votes were polarised between the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and BJP who had formed an alliance helping the combine to form the government on both occasions.

The BJD,headed by chief minister Naveen Patnaik,secured less percentage of votes than the Congress in 2000 (29.40 per cent)and 2004 (27.36 per cent),but it was enough to help the fledgling party win 68 and 61 seats respectively.

Its alliance partner BJP cornered 18.2 per cent votes in 2000 and 17.1 per cent in 2004 as the party wrested 38 and 32 seats in the two polls respectively. A glance at the history of Congress vote ratio in Orissa revealed that the party got 37.87 per cent of votes in 1951,38.26 per cent (1957),43.28 per cent (1961),30.66 per cent (1967),28.18 per cent (1971),37.44 per cent (1974),31.02 per cent (1977),47.78 per cent (1980),51.08 per cent (1985),29.78 per cent (1990) and 39.08 per cent (1995).

As the 11-year-old electoral alliance between BJD and BJP collapsed ahead of the 2009 elections,the Congress camp was hopeful of returning to power hoping that the split in non-Congress votes would help its cause.